The stock of the Pittsburgh Steelers was on a fast track to the moon heading into the 2023 season.
Then, in Week One against the San Francisco 49ers, that stock came crashing back to Earth like a lead balloon.
Things went sideways quickly in a 30-7 loss at Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore in a much-anticipated season opener.
For Good Morning Football co-host and popular NFL Network personality Kyle Brandt, he believes that the Steelers “told the biggest lie” in Week One and that they’ll be just fine and will bounce back.
In his latest 10 Takes with Kyle Brandt podcast, he emphasized that Week One lies to people when it comes to results in the NFL.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again to you: Week One is a liar. It is a pathological liar. Let me make sure you understand: there are teams in Week One that looked like garbage but will have home playoff games this year. There are teams that looked like Super Bowl teams but will miss the playoffs. You can look it up historically; Week One is a liar,” Brandt said on his 10 Takes podcast. “Who told the biggest lie in Week One? …I think it’s the Steelers … I think that the Steelers are going to get off the mat. I just think they ran into the best team in football in the 49ers.”
It’s not at all surprising that Brandt remains in on the Steelers and believes in them despite the lopsided loss in Week One. All summer long Brandt was seemingly driving the Steelers’ hype train, stating early on in the summer that he was picking them to make the playoffs because of Mike Tomlin and Kenny Pickett, well before the hype got out of control in the preseason.
Though the loss was an ugly one for the Steelers with them getting beat up in all three phases, chances are they just were dominated by the best team in football when it’s all said and done. It would not be at all shocking to see the 49ers hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the year in Las Vegas.
They are that good.
It’s also not surprising that the Steelers have some work to do. While Pittsburgh did a great job reshaping the roster this offseason through free agency, via a trade and in the 2023 NFL Draft, they are still a work in progress and need real reps and adversity to build upon and come together. Though training camp was rather intense and the starters played quite a bit in the preseason, there’s nothing like regular season football.
There’s also nothing like playing the 49ers, too, apparently.
Brandt has faith the Steelers will get off the mat and will be who everyone thought they were going to be, this time in Week Two. We’ll see if Pittsburgh — already pretty banged up — can get off the mat in primetime on Monday Night Football in Week Two.
